Ratty, oh Ratty – Water Voles at RSPB Fowlmere

Mrs Sciencebase and I were pleased to finally see Water Voles (five of them, as it happens, all adults, we reckon) at RSPB Fowlmere. They were feeding on water cress in the chalk stream, known as The Shep, that runs through the reserve. Previously, I’ve only caught glimpses of this species elsewhere and once watched a Grey Heron gulp one down whole! Could a Water Vole look any more coy? The European Water Vole (Arvicola amphibius) is the character Ratty of Wind in the Willows fame. Watching them greedily munching on water cress and distractedly pausing to watch us watching them, you can see why Kenneth Grahame picked this animal as the one to teach Mole the ways of the river. The species is not a rat at all though, rather it’s a member of the mammal family known as cricetids and is more closely related to the hamster and the lemming than being in the murid family related to the Black Rat, although they’re all rodents. Water Vole with paws clasped together Speaking of rivers, the…